DOGGY DETECTIVES: Much of my late night reading is 'whodunits' featuring dogs among the characters. Check Amazon author names like Susan Conant, David Rosenfelt, even thriller writer Robert Crais' last couple of books, and see the list of titles that zip down. My favorite, at present count 8, are the mysteries by Spencer Quinn featuring Bernie and Chet. Bernie is a canny (derivative of canine?) P.I. His partner is Chet, a German Shepherd, who sports one black and one white ear. Chet is the narrator, keenly alert to sight, smell, and taste clues Bernie and other human types miss.

Chet catches tell-tell smells of scared, dangerous, happy, or sad people. Fiercely protective, his quick chomp on a bad guy hand or leg often saves Bernie's bacon. He is tremendously loyal and literal. Such as 'I am all ears', 'let's go home and sleep on it', etc. baffle him. No seven course meal could make a human any more gleeful than a 'Slim Jim' reward to Chet. Dianne says sometimes the dog narrator gets a bit cutesy, but I retort, never catty. Anyhow, dogs enable us humans better to detect what's in front of our faces, and even in one another's hearts. They model showing not hiding love.

DOG THEOLOGY: Some of you have heard me muse about the human question whether dogs go to heaven. It is more a question of dog theologians wondering if humans go to heaven. Dogs and critters, even with the violence that goes with survival in the animal kingdom, don't even come close to the gargantuan damage we humans do to them and each another.

Methodist theologian Theodore Runyon (THE NEW CREATION: JOHN WESLEY'S THEOLOGY TODAY) recounts how our Methodist founder's Master Degree thesis argued that, to some degree, animals have souls. Wesley from childhood loved dogs who befriended him and horses that transported him. He has tough talk for those cruel to animals and strong counsel to parents to refrain their children from hurting even tadpoles.

Both Matthew and Luke recount a rather embarrassing moment in Jesus' life when he was on the business end of some dog theology. A Gentile, not our kind of people, mother asks Jewish Jesus to heal her little girl, (Fill in your own blank for the 'not our kind of people' dujour - Muslims, immigrants, Republicans, Democrats, etc.) Initially, Jesus snaps, should we feed our children's food ('our kind of people') to the dogs? But she responds, 'Even dogs get the food that fall from the children's table.' Amazing, even the Son of God needed some mother wisdom. Now, he gets it about his power and identity to bring us inimical humans together.

DOG DIPLOMACY: I have noticed that people who don't particularly like each other often find some common ground when they discover and discuss their mutual love for their dogs.

I did some Googling on political figures and their dogs. Could there be a bit of hope if Trump, Clinton, and Putin discussed their common love for their labs: blond Spinee, chocolate Seamus, and black Koni? Of course, there is also a chilling observation that sometimes we are kinder to our dogs than the 'not our kind of people' in our world. Dog/God help us.

DOG GRIEF: Walking, jogging the streets of our neighborhood,the names of our dogs come more quickly than our own. 'How's Jack today?' 'No complaints! How's Bogart?'

For almost a decade, I have seen a neighbor walk his pair of dogs, Bailey and Emmy. Recently, I noticed only one with him. I learned Bailey had died. First taken to the nearby vet. Then sent to the emergency clinic. Finally, transported to doggy Mayo Clinic (aka Auburn). His heart rallied a few days. Then a 5 AM call from Auburn.

I nodded at his now single dog. Does she know he's gone. Oh, yes. She misses him so much. The vet told us when a dog looses a partner, that you have to double your love and attention for the one that is left. How amazing that creatures known for giving us double love also have their seasons of needing it.

Well, we humans know all sorts of grief and loss. The phrase from Isaiah has been applied to Jesus. 'He was acquainted with grief.' Let us learn from the Son of God and dogs of God to give and receive the double love. We languish when we don't. Flourish when we do.